Some garbage pickers living off the dump...

ORGANIZED LABOR.

July 30, 1986

MONCLOVA, MEXICO — ORGANIZED LABOR. Some garbage pickers living off the dump in the northern city of Monclova are the first in the country to form their own workers union, El Universal newspaper reports. Ramon Camacho, representing the pickers known as pepenadores, said the move was needed to eliminate middlemen and allow the scavengers to resell glass, paper and aluminum to recycling centers. Garbage picking is common in Mexico City, the capital of about 18 million people. At all of its large dumps are small settlements of families who pick through the refuse, often remaining there from one generation to the next.